Straight From Pastor Ey

We Christians should be known more for what we are for and not for what we are against. In his “Thoughts on RH Bill” posted on the Facebook page of the International Graduate School of Leadership (IGSL) Alumni, Dr. Jim Whelchel (who used to teach “Christianity and Social Issues” in IGSL and is now serving as Executive Field Assistant to the VP of Campus Crusade for Christ) wrote, “My point is that as Christians we should not be known primarily as people who are against things, but people who are concerned enough that they do something about real problems that real people face. ” Though he particularly addressed those who are against the Reproductive Health or RH Bill, I think what he wrote applies to both pro and anti groups. He encouraged believers to engage the issue at hand by really knowing the facts behind it. “[W]hen we… fail to engage in accurate discussion of its actual tenets, we may end up being marginalized in the discussion because we are rejected as religious fanatics ...

Sounds like “The Sound of Music” classic, right? Seriously, the Reproductive Health or RH Bill issue seems to be igniting more fight than light. However, this issue must not divide us believers. Second Timothy 2:23-24 command us, “Stay away from stupid and senseless arguments. These only lead to trouble, and God’s servants must not be troublemakers. They must be kind to everyone, and they must be good teachers and very patient.” (CEV) So, whether we are pro or anti, we must keep our F.A.C.T.S. straight. F OCUS on the facts. Sadly, there are those who oppose the RH Bill without even reading it. For example, they accuse its proponents of pushing for abortion. In his “Sounding Board” column, Jesuit priest Fr. Joaquin Bernas, who is also Dean Emeritus of Ateneo Law School, acknowledged that the RH Bill is really against abortion. “I am pleased that the bill reiterates the prohibition of abortion as an assault against the right to life.” (Source: Inquirer.net ) A DDRESS the issues...

Now that’s a nosebleed. Simply put, it is the belief that people who deny there’s a God can still be do-gooders. Such is the conviction of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking. (Though the degenerative Lou Gehrig’s disease has paralyzed him and he could only speak through an electronic speech synthesizer, Hawking holds a top Cambridge research post, which Isaac Newton held before.) In an ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer a year ago, Hawking boldly claimed, “[People] made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that [belief in a God] seems most impossible.” (Source: Yahoo! News ) Recently, in an interview with “The Guardian” newspaper, he also attacked the belief in the afterlife. “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people a...

In a sense, Derek Miller blogged from his grave. Hailed by the Associated Press as “one of the best known bloggers in British Columbia”, Derek died of complications from stage 4 colorectal cancer last May 3, 2011. He was 41, just a year after crossing that point in life where life is said to begin. Screenshot of Derek Miller's blog His final entry, which appeared a day after he died, began this way: “Here it is. I’m dead, and this is my last post to my blog. In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote—the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.” (Source: http://www.penmachine.com/ ) His post-mortem blog went viral and had an estimated 8 million hits, causing the site to crash.  Derek wondered about what Airdrie, his wife of 16 years, and his two teenage daughters would be doing after his death. “There can’t be answers tod...

That’s what a political newspaper called Osama bin Laden whom an elite US commando forces killed early this week in Pakistan (Source: http://www.nationaljournal.com/). Just exactly how much did he cost the US of A? “ By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years , counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.” (Ibid) Analysts are debating whether it’s worth the tab. Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University lamented the expenses incurred in developing the unmanned aircraft, the Predator drones, for the counter-bin Laden efforts. “We have spent a huge amount of money which has not had much effect on the strengthening of our military, and has had a very weak impact on our economy.” (Ibid) But Michael O’Hanlon, a National Security analyst at the Brook...